An Infamous Marriage [NOOK Book]

Overview

Northumberland, 1815

At long last, Britain is at peace, and General Jack Armstrong is coming home to the wife he barely knows. Wed for mutual convenience, their union unconsummated, the couple has exchanged only cold, dutiful letters. With no more wars to fight, Jack is ready to attempt a peace treaty of his own.

Elizabeth Armstrong is on the warpath. She never expected fidelity from the husband she knew for only a week, but his scandalous ...

More About
This Book

Overview

Northumberland, 1815

At long last, Britain is at peace, and General Jack Armstrong is coming home to the wife he barely knows. Wed for mutual convenience, their union unconsummated, the couple has exchanged only cold, dutiful letters. With no more wars to fight, Jack is ready to attempt a peace treaty of his own.

Elizabeth Armstrong is on the warpath. She never expected fidelity from the husband she knew for only a week, but his scandalous exploits have made her the object of pity for years. Now that he's back, she has no intention of sharing her bed with him—or providing him with an heir—unless he can earn her forgiveness. No matter what feelings he ignites within her

Jack is not expecting a spirited, confident woman in place of the meek girl he left behind. As his desire intensifies, he wants much more than a marriage in name only. But winning his wife's love may be the greatest battle he's faced yet.

Product Details

Related Subjects

Meet the Author

Susanna Fraser has been writing since the age of 9. Her youthful efforts featured talking horses, but she now writes Regency-set historicals with a focus on the soldiers who fought the Napoleonic Wars.

A native of Alabama, she never lost her love for barbecue or stopped saying “y’all” as life took her to Philadelphia, England and Seattle, where she lives with her husband and daughter.

For more information on Susanna and her books, visit susannafraser.com.

Read an Excerpt

"To peace!"

Dutifully Jack lifted his glass. "To peace," he echoed, along with the rest of the officers dining at Captain Tizley's table. A dozen men feasted and drank together in the narrow, low-ceilinged room, but Jack alone wore army red amid a sea of naval blue. The captain's cook had outdone himself in honor of the evening's celebration. The last survivor of the ship's pigs had been sacrificed and devoured as a succulent roast, and now a spotted dog and a jam roly-poly graced the table in a double measure of pudding.

How many of us truly want peace? Jack hid a sigh as he downed what he believed was his seventh glass of wine. He couldn't say he did. He had begun this journey to England hoping not for peace or even a lengthy respite at home, but to argue for a better strategy to take back to Canada with him. He thought he knew how to regain control of the Great Lakes, and he believed he could make arguments for the utility of an Indian buffer state that would sway even the most hard-hearted and pragmatic politicians into doing right by their native allies for a change.

But today they had met a westward-bound ship carrying word of a treaty with the Americans, and all his scheming was at an end. Peace at last. Peace with America, as they had made peace with France last year when Bonaparte finally gave up and abdicated. Peace! Jack wasn't ready for it. He had been too long convalescing from the wounds he'd received at Queenston Heights. He needed another chance to prove his courage and talent, that he actually deserved the knighthood and promotion to major-general he'd been awarded while he lay in hospital.

"What will you do with this peace, Sir John?" Captain Tizley raised his brows in inquiry.

Jack smiled. "I must see what Horse Guards wants of me. Perhaps they shall send me back to Canada." He hoped so. He'd lived most of his adult life there, and when he thought of home, he pictured its woods and wildernesses, not the Northumberland village of his childhood. Whatever the terms of this peace with the Americans, Canada would still need to be garrisoned, and who better for the command than a man who knew and loved the place as he did?

"Have you no desire whatsoever to return to England and a settled life, then?" the captain asked.

Jack certainly didn't want to go back to Selyhaugh. Everything he had ever loved about his native village had died first with his best friend and then his mother. All he had left was a wife he hadn't wanted even when he spoke his vows. "I've never had a settled life," he said. "Have you, Captain?"

"No, sir. But if I should ever make admiral, I might begin to desire one. A country estate, a place in society, a family of my own."

It sounded seductive in the abstract, Jack admitted. Despite his long years away, he still felt the weight of his lineage. His mother would have wanted grandchildren to live on the family land. His uncle would have raged to think that after all his efforts to get Jack established in the army and raised to high rank and dignity, his wayward nephew might willfully fail to father a son to carry on the warlike Armstrong traditions. But Jack had been avoiding Elizabeth for too many years to feel sanguine about the prospect.

Your Rating:

Your Recommendations:

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked,
or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to
Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original
and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you
and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not
violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help
ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer.
However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or
to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the
information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its
sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the
review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.

- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly
those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com
also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

Sort by:
Showing
all of
4
Customer Reviews

Anonymous

Posted March 8, 2014

Wasn't ok

I stayed mad throughout the book to have to read how Elizabeth was treated and stayed in the marriage those first five years while Jack was in Canada and practically welcomed him home with open arms and stayed in the marriage!!!!! I hate to read of a weak heroine!!!! She could have found employment Jack said he gave his word to his dying friend but left to dishonor his own Word by fornicating with other women after marriage and even keeping mistresses thinking Elizabeth would never know!! Elizabeth should have left after she found out and after his Mother passed. Even finding he swore there were no others which was another lie, how could she trust him????? I hated how this book made me feel, so mad for Elizabeth, I can not tolerate infidelity!!!!! Their love was based on a lie!!!!

Was this review helpful? YesNoThank you for your feedback.Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.